Pollstar Awards show heads to Nashville from L.A. in 2014

Concert industry conference to move from L.A. next year

Visitors climb the grand staircase during a tour of the Ryman Auditorium in May 2012. (Sanford Myers / File / The Tennessean)

Nashville will host the concert industry’s premier conference and awards show next year for the first time in the event’s nearly 25-year history.

The Pollstar Live! conference and the Pollstar Awards are moving to Music City from Los Angeles in February, an executive for the trade magazine and Mayor Karl Dean confirmed this week.

The announcement comes on the heels of the annual Grammy nominations concert’s relocation from Los Angeles to Nashville late last year. City leaders point to the two — and Nashville’s strong presence at February’s Grammy awards show — as a demonstration of the city’s growing position as a power player in the broader music world.

“I think it’s indicative of a lot of work that’s been done in the music industry to underscore the importance of Nashville in the music world,” Dean said. “I think this is recognition that Nashville has a music infrastructure that is second to none in the United States.”

More than 1,000 agents, managers and artists from across the world will descend on Nashville next year for the three-day Pollstar event, which includes a conference at the Omni Nashville Hotel from Feb. 19 through Feb. 21 and an awards show at the Ryman Auditorium on its final day.

The conference will allow Nashville to put its many entertainment venues on display to the people who have the power to book thousands of tours.

“It’s pretty significant,” said Ryman General Manager Sally Williams, who took a leading role in negotiating with Pollstar to move the event. “It’s obviously exciting for me and the Ryman, but I’m absolutely excited that all of these other venues are going to get the chance to be in front of all of these people.”

The conference and awards show have been held primarily in Los Angeles, with brief diversions to New York City and Las Vegas.

Pollstar is a California-based trade magazine that covers the worldwide concert industry. This year’s conference featured topics on everything from ticketing technology to social media marketing. The Ryman Auditorium beat out theaters in Austin, New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta to win Theatre of the Year at this year’s awards show.

The decision to relocate the conference to Nashville reflects, at once, the broadening reach of country music, Nashville’s development as a hub for a variety of other music genres and the impact of the city’s downtown revitalization, said Gary Smith, Pollstar’s chief financial officer.

“Over the years, country music has broadened its demographic and gotten bigger and bigger over time,” Smith said. “The interesting thing in moving to Nashville is not only the revitalization of the city, but the many, many clients that use Pollstar and the number of people in Nashville that work in the music business.”

About 1,300 attended the conference in February in Los Angeles. Smith said he expects that number to climb to between 1,500 and 1,700 in Nashville.

Talks to bring the event here began more than a year ago, Smith said.

“I think we were more of the opinion that we don’t understand why it hasn’t been here before,” said Clarence Spalding, a tour manager who owns Spalding Entertainment, which was part of the initial discussions with the trade magazine. More than 20 major tours originate out of Nashville each year, Spalding said. The city also serves as the headquarters for several trucking, video, lighting and sound companies that support the touring industry.

“It’s a touring magazine and it’s about the tours and the people who run them and so you have major agencies here and major managers here,” Spalding said. “For us, it wasn’t why you should come here, but why hadn’t they been here yet.”

Smith said the addition of the Music City Center and expanded hotel and entertainment options downtown helped to seal the deal. Pollstar has not made a commitment to Nashville beyond the 2014 event.

“Nashville is a great place to do it because they have so many venues downtown,” Smith said. “The one thing about doing an event there is people get out. It’ll be a lot of fun for people to get out and about and visit the honky tonks.”

The Pollstar announcement continues what has become a more formal introduction of Nashville to the broader music world.

Last year, Nashville hosted “The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!!” — Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night,” which kicked off the countdown to last month’s 55th Annual Grammy Awards by revealing Grammy award nominees in between performances from past Grammy winners and nominees. The show marked the fifth time the Grammys had announced nominations live on prime-time television. But the broadcast from the Bridgestone Arena was the first of those ever held outside Los Angeles.

“I think that Nashville historically has been seen as a player in the music world, but it has been a player in that we’ve hosted the CMA Awards and the CMT Awards and the CMA Music Festival,” Williams said. “Because these other gems are not just country it absolutely opens doors not just for similar events, but for people who are in the industry and looking for places to play or a place to take their business. All of that goes to show how broad this Music City really is.”